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This research addresses the pressing need for reducing vehicle aerodynamic resistance, with a specific focus on mitigating wheel and tire resistance, which constitutes approximately 25% of the overall vehicle drag. While the prevailing method for reducing resistance in mass production development involves wheel opening reduction, it inadvertently increases wheel weight and has adverse effects on brake cooling performance. To overcome these challenges, novel complementary resistance reduction methods that can be employed in conjunction with an appropriate degree of wheel opening reduction are imperative. In this study, we introduce symmetrical wheels with a fan-like shape as a solution. The fan configuration influences the surrounding flow by either drawing it in or pushing it out, depending on the direction of rotation. Application of these fan-type wheels to a vehicle's wheels results in the redirection of flow inwards or outwards during high-speed driving due to wheel rotation.

Bad weather conditions such as torrential rain, heavy snow, and thick fog frequently occur worldwide. Vehicle accidents in such bad weather conditions account for a significant portion of all vehicle accidents, and the level of damage is relatively severe compared to other accidents that occur in clear weather. This paper analyzes the driver's driving stability in bad weather conditions, which has such a significant meaning, in various ways through experiments on the inconvenience experienced by the driver. In this study, three levels of bad weather conditions were implemented in a driving simulator environment to evaluate driver inconvenience for six activities. Through driving experiment, quantitative bio-signals and vehicle signals were analyzed in each weather condition. The SD survey was used to assess the driver's inconvenience level for activities performed while driving and analyze the ranking of inconvenience.

Since the introduction of the DrivAer in 2012 this model has become the standard generic aerodynamic benchmark and aerodynamic research model used by automotive OEMs, software vendors and researchers. In 2017, the relevance of the DrivAer has been furthered by the inclusion of a simplified engine bay. Whilst the DrivAer has become the popular standard, the availability of detailed wind tunnel test data, a key enabler for more sophisticated aerodynamic benchmarking and research, remains limited. This paper presents a comprehensive set of wind tunnel test data of the notchback version of the Ford Open Cooling DrivAer, including aerodynamic force measurements, detailed surface pressure measurements and flow field measurements at 3 cross-sections in the vicinity of the model. In addition, the paper will discuss the sensitivity of the experimental data to wind tunnel repeatability and facility-to-facility variations.

Recently, the design of automotive headlamps has become diversified and complicated according to customer needs. Hence, structural complexity of the headlamps has also increased. Complex structure of the headlamps inevitably causes a disturbance in air circulation. For this reason, inadvertent micro-sized water droplets, called fogging, are condensed on the inner surface of headlamp lens due to temperature difference between the inner and outer lens surfaces. To circumvent fogging inside of the headlamp lens, an anti-fogging coating is indispensable. Conventionally, diverse surfactants have been adopted as substantial material for the anti-fogging coating. However, the usage of the surfactants causes undesirable side effect such as water mark arising from vapor condensation, which is an important issue that must be fully resolved. In this study, we developed an innovative anti-fogging coating material without using conventional surfactant.

This paper examines the effect of pulse-and-glide (PnG) driving strategies on the fuel efficiency when applied on parallel HEVs. Several PnG strategies are proposed, and these include the electrical, mechanical, and combined PnG strategies. The electrical PnG strategy denotes the hybrid powertrain control tactics in which the battery is charged or discharged according to the power demanded while maintaining the constant vehicle speed. On the other hand, the mechanical PnG strategy denotes the powertrain control tactics in which the vehicle accelerates or decelerates according to the power load while minimizing the battery usage. The combined PnG strategy involves both electrical and mechanical strategies to find a balanced point in between them. Here, a tradeoff relationship between the fuel efficiency and the vehicle drivability related to the tracking performance of the desired target speed is revealed.

The tire is the vital element in vehicle dynamics, as its contact patch transmits all forces and moments to the ground (accelerating, braking, cornering, rolling).Over the recent decades tire development for passenger cars has been continuously improved and optimized in order to achieve a good overall vehicle performance in R&H that is in balance with all other tire performances (Wear, Durability, NVH, RR, Miles). This general development process has to be suitable for various vehicle types from regular passenger cars over eco-friendly hybrid or electric vehicles to high performance sport cars. The balance between Ride and Handling performance is further adjusted to local customer preferences that are usually distinguished by markets (US, EU, Asia). The tire development process, which is embedded in the overall vehicle development, is usually realized in a mutual collaboration between OEM and tire supplier.

Impact resistance of plastic underbody parts was studied using simulated injection-molded specimen which can be tested according to different types of material used, injection molding variants like position and number of injection molding gates, and features of ribs. Material applied was glass fiber reinforced polyamide which can be used in underbody parts. Test was performed using several combinations of injection molding gates and rib types. From the test result, optimal design guide for plastic underbody parts was determined. Also, new high impact resistant plastic material made of glass fiber reinforced polyamide 66 (PA66) and polyamide 6 (PA6) alloy was developed and the material properties useful for CAE were determined. As a case study, oil pan and muffler housing were designed following the optimal design guide and CAE. And the reliability of the sample muffler housing designed was verified.

The present study focused on CrN-Cu nanocoatings composed of nano-meter grains with CrN, Cr and Cu functioning low-friction, anti-wear and heat resistance. The coatings were synthesized by hybrid PVD including metal arc source, magentron sputter source and ion-gun source. Although Cu has low hardness, the hardness of CrNCu is not declined because it was composed of below 20nm sized grains of CrN, Cr, and Cu. However, CrN-Cu had lower friction than CrN owing to Cu’s low shear strength. CrN-Cu films optimized using the Reaction Surface Method (RSM) showed the excellent tribological behavior and low coefficient of friction compared with DLC. The tribological properties of the Cr-Cu-N demonstrated superior wear resistance and low friction at normal and high temperature conditions. The CrN-Cu nanocoatings can be used for the downsizing automotive engines working at severe tribological conditions.

Most bucket type valvetrain engines use DLC coated tappet for low friction and fuel efficiency. However the requirements on coating robustness have been increased as the tribological environments have become more severe by use of low viscosity oil or higher engine output. In order to obtain higher coating efficiency and improved wear resistance, 5∼9 at.% Si doped DLC (Si-DLC) coated tappet has been developed using PACVD process. Thermal stability and wear resistance of Si-DLC were improved impressively than those of DLC, although mechanical properties such as hardness and adhesion were degradated. It seems that Si suppresses a graphitization of DLC and thin SixOy film on coating surface acts as a barrier to oxidation or flash heat.

There are some problems “windows fog up a lot” for ventilation system. We have Test Development Procedure to prevent the fog problems. But, Many fog problems occurred in the cars that we made. So in this paper, new ventilation system is needed and developed. The Smart Ventilation System automatically controls indoor air quality even though the blower motor is off. There are two sensors that is used for AutoDefogSensor system and CO2 CONTROL system.. The sensor is on when blower motor and heater control is off. We use these signals and make new ventilation logics. We evaluate this system in chamber & '13 winter test in USA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mixture formation and optimize the operating conditions under cold start in a stoichiometric (λ=1) GDI engine with wall-guided piston using a 3D commercial code, STAR-CD [8]. For GDI engine under cold start, it can be difficult to carry out the optimization of operating conditions by engine test alone without the understanding of mixture formation inside the combustion chamber. In this study, three cold start conditions of the catalyst heating mode with split injection, the cranking under freezing temperature and acceleration before engine warm-up which causes oil dilution were calculated. In particular, injection strategy for each cold start condition were optimized and compared to the engine test data. The previously validated spray models [6] were applied to the analysis of the spray formation and mixing process inside the combustion chamber.

A fractional recirculation of cabin air was proposed and studied to improve cabin air quality by reducing cabin particle concentrations. Vehicle tests were run with differing number of passengers (1, 2, 3, and 4), four fan speed settings and at 20, 40, and 70 mph. A manual control was installed for the recirculation flap door so different ratios of fresh air to recirculated air could be used. Full recirculation is the most efficient setting in terms of thermal management and particle concentration reduction, but this causes elevated CO₂ levels in the cabin. The study demonstrated cabin CO₂ concentrations could be controlled below a target level of 2000 ppm at various driving conditions and fan speeds with more than 85% of recirculation. The proposed fractional air recirculation method is a simple yet innovative way of improving cabin air quality. Some energy saving is also expected, especially with the air conditioning system.

Hydroforming process is an emerging manufacturing technology which allows engineers to use continuous closed section without flange for spot weld in a given package envelope. In this research, Hydroforming is applied to a front pillar and a roof side rail for improvement of obstruction angle, body stiffness and roof crush resistance. In addition, the joints of front / center pillar that were integrated into the hydroforming part and structure of package tray were improved. As a result, front pillar width is reduced by 23%, body torsional stiffness is increased by 45% and roof crush resistance is improved by 35%.

Non-Asbestos Organic (NAO) disc pads and Low Steel Lomet disc pads were subjected to high and low humidity conditions to discover how humidity affects these two classes of formulations for physical properties, friction, wear and noise characteristics. The 2 classes of formulations show similarities and differences in response to increasing humidity. The humidity effect on deformation of the surface microstructure of the gray cast iron disc is also investigated. Humidity implications for pad quality control and brake testing are discussed.

Systematic numerical simulations were performed for the improvement of fuel efficiency and thermal performance of a compact size passenger vehicle. Both aerodynamic and thermal aspects were considered concurrently. For the sake of systematic evaluation, our study was conducted employing various design changes in multiple steps: 1) analysis of the baseline design; 2) elimination of the engine room components; 3) modification of the engine room component layout; 4) modification of the aerodynamic components (such as under body cover and cooling ducts). The vehicle performance characteristics corresponding to different design options were analyzed in terms of aerodynamic coefficient, engine coolant temperature, and surface temperatures of thermally critical components such as battery and exhaust manifold. Finally optimal design modification solutions for better vehicle performance were proposed.

Copper has been regarded as one of the indispensable ingredients in the brake friction materials since it provides high thermal diffusivity at the sliding interface. However, the recent regulations against environmentally hazardous ingredients limit the use of copper in the commercial friction material and much effort has been made for the alternatives. In this work, the role of the cuprous ingredients such as copper fiber, copper powder, cupric oxide (CuO), and copper sulfide (CuS) are studied using the friction materials based on commercial formulations. The investigation was performed using a full inertial brake dynamometer and 1/5 scale dynamometer for brake performance and wear test. Results showed that the cuprous ingredients played a crucial role in maintaining the stable friction film at the friction interface, resulting in improved friction stability and reduced aggressiveness against counter disk.

The efficiency of a gap-type of deflector for suppressing vehicle sunroof buffeting is studied in this work. Buffeting is an unpleasant low frequency booming caused by flow-excited Helmholtz resonance of the interior cabin. Accurate prediction of this phenomenon requires accounting for the bi-directional coupling between the transient shear layer aerodynamics (vortex shedding) and the acoustic response of the cabin. Numerical simulations were performed using a CFD/CAA numerical method based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The well established LBM approach provides the time-dependent solution to the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, and directly captures both turbulent and acoustic pressure fluctuations over a wide range of scales given adequate computational grid resolution. In this study the same gap-type deflector configuration is installed on two different types of vehicles, a SUV and a sedan.

In this study a new model is proposed for turbulent premixed combustion in a spark-ignition engine. An independent transport equation is solved for the mean reaction progress variable in a propagation form in KIVA-3V. An expression for turbulent burning velocity was previously given as a product of turbulent diffusivity in unburned gas, laminar flame speed and maximum flame surface density. The model has similarity with the G equation approach, but originates from zone conditionally averaged formulation for unburned gas. A spark kernel grows initially as a laminar flame and becomes a fully developed turbulent flame brush according to a transition criterion in terms of the kernel size and the integral length scale. Simulation of a homogeneous charge pancake chamber engine showed good agreement with measured flame propagation and pressure trace. The model was also applied against experimental data of Hyundai θ-2.0L SI engine.

A study for improving the resistance to fretting corrosion of SCr 420 pinion gear was conducted. Fretting is the damage to contacting surfaces experiencing slight relative reciprocating sliding motion of low amplitude. Fretting corrosion is the fretting damage to unlubricated contacting surfaces accompanied by corrosion, mostly oxidation that occurs if the fretting occurs in air. Two kinds of conventional heat treatment and a newly designed one suggested for improving the resistance to the fretting corrosion of pinion gear were compared each other to find out what is the main factor for generating fretting corrosion phenomenon. Increased carbon potential at both the heating and diffusing zone and reduced time of tempering was found out to be a solution for improving the resistance to fretting corrosion of forged and heat treated gear steel. On the contrary, modified carbo-nitriding using ammonia gas has been getting worse the fretting corrosion problem.

The use of light-weight materials in automotive engine components has increased in order to achieve better fuel efficiency and engine performance. In this study, Al alloy (AI5056) valve spring retainer can reduce a weight by 63% in comparison to steel and improve the upper limit of engine speed by about 500rpm. The Al valve spring retainer was fabricated by cold forging and coated with hard anodizing, DLC (diamond like coating), cold spray and thermal spray for better wear resistance and durability. We conclude that among these materials the DLC coating improves the wear resistance of Al valve spring retainer and has a sufficient durability after endurance testing.